A BME Kind of Love

Georgia Tech has not only helped students discover their careers but also played cupid for many. That was the case for Tushar and Mattie Agarwal, two ambitious graduate students of the Master of Biomedical Innovation and Development (MBID) in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The two biomedical engineers began their love journey as friends and classmates collaborating on a urology kidney stone prevention device as part of the MBID program.

The one-year intensive program educates students on the lifecycle of medical device development—including research and development, clinical trials, quality assurance, and manufacturing—and prepares them for careers in global product launch.

Free time between classes was spent exploring the city of Atlanta and embracing college life at Tech, including taking part in student activities and catching Yellowjacket football and basketball games. 

“Through study sessions, case observations, product pitches, and shared goals, our friendship became something more meaningful," Tushar says.

So, the two took the leap and made it official.

The couple graduated in 2018. That time proved to be a test of their relationship. Mattie moved back to her hometown of St. Louis, MO, to pursue a career with Boston Scientific in their cardiac rhythm management division. While Tushar relocated to Columbia, SC, to work at PricewaterhouseCoopers in healthcare strategy consulting.

“Starting out in a new city with a new job without your better half was tough,” Tushar says. “We always made an effort to talk to each other daily, even if it was for five minutes, to catch up on each other’s highlights and give each other advice when needed.”

For Mattie, it was sometimes difficult to celebrate personal and professional milestones without Tushar. Facetime sessions and frequent trips between cities helped.

“The hardest part was not being with each other to celebrate the wins and successes! Even doing things with friends and family, it always felt like a piece was missing,” Mattie says. “One of my favorite memories of that time was when Tushar found out he got a job in the Bay Area—he immediately booked a flight to come celebrate with me that very weekend.”

The long-distance was short-lived thanks to an opportunity in San Francisco where Tushar and Mattie found work. Tushar landed a job at Auris Health (now Johnson & Johnson Med Tech) in the Bay Area—the heart of tech and robotics—and Mattie joined him soon after. 

In 2021, Tushar made things official with a sunrise proposal at Yosemite, surrounded by majestic redwoods and a beautiful mountain vista. They remember their wedding being a beautiful blend of both of their cultures, combining a traditional white dress wedding with an Indian wedding.

The couple also added a new member to their family—their furbaby, Louie.

“His intelligence and playfulness keep us on our toes, and he has become the best hiking buddy in the Bay,” Tushar says.

Tushar currently works as a marketing manager at Moon Surgical, where he is responsible for driving the commercial success of Maestro, a digital surgical assistant. 

Mattie is a product operations clinical education trainer at Intuitive, educating internal product development teams on how the company’s robotic surgical systems are used and the value they bring to their patients and surgeons.

The couple love the vibrant innovation culture of medical robotics and the opportunity to create a meaningful impact for patients worldwide.

“While our story started at Georgia Tech, it’s taken us all over the country and the world, and we can’t wait to see where our next chapter takes us!”